How Starscream should have been TFP
by Sapphire's Ink
Summary: TFP did Starscream dirty. I'm rewriting his major scenes because I can. So there.
1. Cliffjumper's death

**TFP did Starscream dirty. I'm rewriting his major scenes because I can.**

**I don't have season 2 or 3 on Netflix anymore, so if anyone could send me clip links or plot ssummaries, that would be wonderful.**

Starscream's wings twitched when the plating opened and three bots stepped in. Two vehicon/eradicon-frames, and an autoboot.

"The autobot called Cliffjumper," Starscream drawled. He turned, revealing an impassive face.

"Starscream. Been a while. So... Where's your master?" asked the smirking bot.

His wings twitched. "He's out for the moment. He left me in charge." His feet shuffled. "I don't suppose you would reveal the location of the autobot base?"

"No can do, Screamy," Cliffjumper said sardonically.

He unclasped his hands from his back. His enlarged claws glinted dangerously as he approached the immobilized bot, stopped in front of him, and curled his servos into a fist.

"I understand you were one of two autobots responsible for the destruction of the space bridge on Cybertron three earth-centuries ago?" he asked.

Cliffjumper's optic ridge raised. "Yes?"

Starscream inhaled and ex-vented, kneeling on the tips of his toes. "There were three mechs caught in that explosion who were very important to me. Two were members of my trine, and the other, a fellow scientist, colleague, and friend." He tilted his head. "Your partner, the autobot Arcee, was previously traumatized by witnessing Tailgate's offlining. I'm forced to wonder how she would react if she were to witness your last moments."

Cliffjumper didn't look cocky anymore. He pulled against the mechs restraining him. "Don't you dare!"

Starscream calmly backed away with a smirk. "Oh, so you'd prefer to die now? Because either way, you're not leaving this ship alive."

"Yes!" Cliffjumper nearly sobbed. "Please don't bring Arcee here!"

Starscream stood and looked at the guards. "Indulge him."

One of the vehicons transformed their arm into a blaster and shot Cliffjumper through the spark.

"Soundwave, please note for the historical record that on the third earth month of the earth-code year 2010, the autobot stationed at outpost omega-one called Cliffjumper was exterminated as an act of vengeance for the losses of Lieutenant Commanders Thundercracker and Skywarp, and CSO of the decepticon cause, Commander Shockwave," Starscream said.

Soundwave nodded.

Starscream turned to the drones. "Take him to Knockout. He could do with some spare parts."

Cliffjumper's corpse was dragged away.

"Is there still no news from Lord Megatron?" Starscream asked.

"there- Is- -still no news from Lord Megatron?" Soundwave remixed.

Starscream nodded. "I'm going to relieve ST-3V3 from his post - he's been at it long enough for now. You're in charge until I get back. Make sure the eradicons don't accidentally kill themselves."

Soundwave nodded and turned back to his monitor.


	2. Megatron's return

**TFP did Starscream dirty. I'm rewriting his major scenes because I can.**

**I don't have season 2 or 3 on Netflix anymore, so plot is going off the rails after One Shall Rise. Or maybe after Partners - I haven't decided yet.**

_"DECEPTICONS! I have returned!"_

Starscream's smile became somewhat strained. "Computer," he called, and it beeped accordingly. "Transfer high-priority command codes from Acting Captain Starscream to Lord Megatron of Kaon."

It beeped an acknowledgement. _'Command codes transferred.'_

"Soundwave," he called. The ex-SIC looked up to face the SIC. "Inform Lord Megatron I'll be out for a flight for the next hour. I'll be back then to give him a report regarding mine D-2."

Soundwave nodded, and turned back to his console.

The flight was meant to calm his nerves and center his mind's gravity. It certainly centered him, but his thoughts were still exceptionally turbulent. He was still ittery and nervous when he led Megatron around.

"Of all the mines the decepticons have acquired during your absence, Lord Megatron, this one is by far the most prominent, with some of the purest crystals at ninety-percent of pure energon," Starscream said. "The miners have been working without pause, and we have amassed quite the stockpile. There are four hundred and twenty-six processed cubes in the storage room, and-"

"When will you tire of this blathering?" Megatron asked.

Starscream's hackles rose, but he desperately quashed the feeling of righteous indignation that followed. He didn't need Megatron on his bad side. He held his glossa and waited for Megatron to continue speaking.

The towering grey and purple mech smirked.

"My time away had yielded a very intriguing means of materializing the army I will gather: the solidified form of what the ancient texts refer to as the blood of Unicron. Behold: dark energon."

Starscream walked closer and slowly reached for it, giving the elder any chance he needed to stop him. Starscream grabbed Megatron's wrist and dragged the dark substance closer to his face.

A digit ran over the curves of the crystal. There was a pulse that sent a dual sensation of warmth and freezing up his arm. "Interesting," he granted. "However, I don't understand. It is said his blood is the antispark. How wou-" The solution came to him. "You intend to use the dead?"

He simply smirked.

He scoffed and couldn't punch down the urge to jibe him fast enough, stepping away from the warlord. "You _believe_ in those old bonded's tales?"

"We require only a cadaver to be certain," Megatron said. His red optics flicked to his SIC. "Are you prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice?"

His wings twitched in slight irritation. His commanding officer asking his right-hand mech if he was prepared to die? How was he supposed to take that, when there were so many guards and warriors on the ship who were no good but for canon fodder? "Fortunately, I don't believe Knockout has begun his disassembly yet. Would you prefer to issue the command to bring him down, or shall I?"

"You're the one who knows what he's looking for," Megatron pointed out.

Starscream tapped his comm line. "Knockout, please bring down the recently exterminated autobot corpse."

"Yes, commander," Knockout said.

He was down on the planet in scarcely five minutes, with the autobot on a hovering platform.

Cliffjumper still lay dead, a singed hole visible on his chestplates that was bigger in the back, covered with scratches and burns, limp and disfigured, missing his arms - Knockout had obviously been in the middle of his dissection when he was called down. Megatron obviously recognized the deceased because his optics, with malicious glee, were glowing bright.

Starscream smiled evilly. "Think of it as a welcome home present."


	3. Fowler's rescue

**TFP did Starscream dirty. I'm rewriting his major scenes because I can.**

**I don't have season 2 or 3 on Netflix anymore, so plot is going off the rails after One Shall Rise. Or maybe after Partners - I haven't decided yet.**

Sometimes, he knew, his cowardice was off the rails.

The autobot once immobile on the slab, hissing and growling desperately akin to a demon, and immediately attacking the drones opposite his slab, may have prompted one of them. He used his pede thrusters to hide himself out of the reach of the creature. Knockout, on the other hand, jumped down into the collection of crystals, while Megatron stayed in his place.

"That's your plan?" Starscream asked, voice high-pitched and panicked. "Bring autobots back from the grave to destroy us?"

"That is no autobot," Megatron corrected. "Simply a mindless killing machine intent on destroying everything in its path."

"And if it will attack decepticons as well as autobots, how do you propose to control them?" Starscream riposted. "This is the blood of fragging Unicron, hardly mentioned out of legend! We don't know anything about it!"

"And that is precisely why we will have to learn," Megatron growled, and Starscream fell into the instinctual silent obedience Megatron had long instilled more than a thousand years ago. "You are a former scientist. You will work with Knockout and his assistant to analyze the substance."

His wings drooped in complacent submission. That was what he demanded, and what Starscream capitulated to whenever his subordinates weren't in danger of facing the madman's beatings. "Yes, my lord." The terrorcon finally caught notice of Megatron. "My lord, watch out!"

Megatron turned almost lazily towards the zombie, and immediately cut him in half, allowing the disarmed corpse to fall, its legs now disconnected from the torso. There was still the faint sound of growling and hissing.

The former autobot was trying to move, but his torso had gone dark again and he couldn't move without limbs.

The miners had all halted when the crash came from one of the lower balconies, the armed guards activating their blasters. Others' eyes darted to Starscream and Megatron in worry. Megatron held up a calming hand.

"Starscream, I've collected a rather large crystal of dark energon," Megatron said. "Have Soundwave open the bridge - I will retrieve it, and you will prepare a containment chamber in the science lab."

"Yes, my lord," Starscream said, diving off of the glowing golden ring and transforming a few inches from the crystals. A stream of bright blue burning energon followed him up, glowing in the Koovold Starburst maneuver, one he hadn't been able to employ since Vos was still thriving and his trinemates were still active, but still as natural as muscle memory. Megatron growled at the ostentatiousness, and watched him travel to the ship. His fastest flier was too arrogant for his own good.

Knockout, on the other hand, had to take the next platform with the next mining cart full of energon.

Knockout, Breakdown, and Starscream then spent about five joors preparing a containment field for the dark energon. When it was actually brought to them, however, there was a horrible churning in their guts. The hot/cold feeling was intensified, and Breakdown's armour clacked against his skin. It only dimished by half when it was placed in the containment field, and Megatron moaned.

"I'll adjust the specifications of the field immed-"

"You will keep the field as it is," Megatron interrupted his SIC. "Knockout, Breakdown, you may leave."

The doctor and his assistant quickly left, grateful to be granted reprieve from the horrible feeling.

The pulses of hot/cold were felt through to his pedes now. He looked on the bottom of his thrusters - he'd apparently underestimated the jolt. There was burnt energon on the bottom of his pedes. There was the same cold, sick feeling on the bottom edges of his wings, too, and in his energon lines.

He took a step closer to the dark energon mound, and the feeling became more intense. His tank churned. He went back to his original position, and then took a few steps back. The churning in his tanks stopped and his pedes felt mildly better, but his wings still ached.

This was obviously having an effect on regular energon.

"My Lord, I fear too much contact with the dark substance is going to he hazardous to the crew's health. Perhaps we should adjust the-"

"WE WILL NOT ADJUST THE FIELD!" Megatron screamed. His fusion canon whirred threateningly, and Starscream's wings immediately melted against the small of his back.

Instinctively, he knew Megatron liked him looking small and fragile. They were easily defeated in the Ring. He didn't like to be mouthed off at - it was why he held his glossa save when there were offenses of other people to distract from. He was loyal to his subordinates, always, when they had done something minor and inconsequential. His self-preservation tended to go out the window when it came to them.

Though, not when they were alone. Not when the SIC had no pranks to distract his Lord from. That's when he held his glossa and didn't speak.

Megatron spoke softly to the mound of death rock, walking around the weak containment field like it was looking at him. Starscream memorized every grove and dip in the jagged crystal as he, too, walked around it, thought at a far greater distance.

There was a beep in the comms, and the two men halted in their orbits. _"Lord Megatron! The autobots have invaded D-2!"_

The gladiator's angry crimson optics turned to Starscream like his mere gaze was an accusation. Starscream wordlessly challenged the gaze.

"Orders?" came the Seeker's voice.

"The mine must not fall into autobot hands. Nor should dark energon."

"There is not enough time to extract everything-"

"Then blow the mine!" Megatron yelled furiously.

Starscream's wing twitched, but he left, unsubspacing a bomb he'd gotten from some autobot soldier during the War that had a fairly impressive yield. He didn't let it catch attention - he simply activated the bomb, set it for thirty klicks, dropped it in the energon crystals, had Soundwave provide a bridge for the miners, and let the mine explode.

They didn't usually die that easily. If they were still alive, it would be useful to devise a counterstrategy for when they would next attack.

Though, if they were dead, the death of the leader of the Autobots wouldn't be a bad thing. It could even lead to surrender. There was, after all, a reason why the autobot forces were only a match for the decepticons after Orion Pax became a True Prime.

He sighed and went to his quarters. It had been seventy-two joors since Megatron's return, and since that time, he'd had less duties but he was sent running positively fragging everywhere. Do this, climb that, fetch this, call him, perform such-and-such drill, blow the mine, erect a containment field, make sure all the troops are safe...

He got another comm alert when he wasn't even two seconds in his berth.

His claw pressed into the button behind his audial. "I've been on duty for three Earth days," he said flatly. "You can do without me for eight hours. Starscream out."

Another comm chime.

He sighed and sat up, relenting. "What is it?"

It was obviously Soundwave, cobbled together from voice clips he recognized from Optimus Prime calling for retreat, a random Vehicon warning of an intrusion, Starscream announcing to the crew of Megatron's trip, and Starscream's own voice from not five joors ago. "_Autobots- -on the ship! - Megatron is absent- Orders?"_

Starscrema's legs swung off his berth. "Why in the pit would they be on our ship? Can they penetrate our cloak?"

There was a voice he didn't recognize, one that was clearly D4-N13L, Breakdown from an instance he didn't remember, and one that was definitely ST-3V3. _"Special Agent William Fowler here. I'm en route from the autobot base. I'll brief you in person.- -Locked up in the brig- -The autobots will- -rescue-"_

He moaned. "Keep the human under maximum surveillance. Mind the presence of the autobots. If the cloak is damaged, repair it. How many autobots are infesting our ship?"

_"-three-"_ Soundwave answered.

The seeker mumbled something incoherent.

Soundwave let confused static fill the comm lines.

(Starscream momentarily despaired that he knew Soundwave's static patterns so well.) "Have you started interrogating the human yet?" he repeated.

There was another clip, obviously a conversation between R0N-47D and Soundwave, using clips from Megatron. _"You're chaining him up? (a pause). Are you going to start interrogating him? (another pause.) Why not? 'Hold position and await my command- This is an opportunity we can't let slip through our fingers!'"_

Starscream hummed. "I'm not taking the blame for this. And I was serious about the recharge. You're in command, and you're quite competent. Deal with the situation yourself."

Really, the only reason he wasn't out of his berth and making all the mistakes that would drag attention away from Soundwave for defying Megatron's orders was because Starscream knew very well that Soundwave was the only decepticon he wouldn't beat for defying him or making a mistake. Never in a million years had Megatron laid a hand on Soundwave. There were plenty of threats, to be certain, and his VISOR had been cracked once or twice from sparring, but otherwise? No. The ex-Kaon gladiator could handle himself very well.

He wasn't worried.

He fell into recharge in fifty seconds.


	4. Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

**TFP did Starscream dirty. I'm rewriting his major scenes _because I can_.**

**Also, can I take a note to mention my most loyal reviewer, who has reviewed ALL MY CHAPTERS(!)? TOO BAD, I'M DOING IT ANYWAYS. My most sincere welcomes, Skyshadow54, to the deepest and darkest recesses of my writing dungeon. Thank you for commenting, and welcome to my TFP cult!**

Okay, look. Starscream's internal clock was faulty, alright? And so were his audials.

And optic sensors.

And just about every other sense.

Starscream was a light sleeper, okay? And he'd just had: a brush with death from a maniac two logical corrections away from a histrionic meltdown, a 76-hour shift, a good fly, and an encounter with an autobot terrorcon that Megatron wanted to keep and make a part of his army. He was two WHAT THE FRAGs away from going into forced shutdown. Let Soundwave take the fragging blame for once!

Maybe he should have taken a shorter recharge cycle than eighteen earth hours, because when Starscream stumbled into the hall, there was a vehicon corpse with long-dried energon that was already going grey lying outside his quarters, and another spot of dried energon was being cleaned further down the hall, and a few sharp clicks of his claws against the nearest touch-screen informed him that the dark energon was no longer behind its containment field. When he checked his comm signal reports, there were no recent pings from his majesty the megalomaniac, only from Soundwave, once every hour for the past five hours.

Maybe he should answer them.

He really should, shouldn't he?

He looked back down at the vehicon corpse, and poked it with the end of his pedes. It didn't twitch, which meant Megatron hadn't gone on a killing spree just to randomly revive his soldiers.

So where did the Dark Energon-

"Frag it. I'm going back to stasis. Ping me when the ship's not in a state of being epically fragged."

Thankfully, the drone cleaning down the hall was ST-3V3. ST-3V3 was one who knew how to mind his own business, and immediately deleted that memory from his files. Soundwave, also loyal, immediately filed the video footage away for blackmail.


End file.
